


and still, you return

by ElasticElla



Series: If Not, Winter [13]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Dark-ish, F/F, Post-Canon, some implied internalized homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-07
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-08-20 06:38:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16550810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElasticElla/pseuds/ElasticElla
Summary: Mai doesn’t know what to do with herself now that the war is over.





	and still, you return

Mai doesn’t know what to do with herself now that the war is over. She doesn’t want to go to the disgustingly chipper island Ty Lee is calling home. She doesn’t want to deal with Zuko’s new friends that allegedly saved the world. She doesn’t want anything possible or easy.   
  
There are a million and one reasons Mai and Zuko don’t work together now that nothing is in their way. Almost all of those reasons are wrapped around his incarcerated sister she still visits, one Zuko had bitterly said she always preferred to him.   
  
Mai didn’t know what to say to that. She hadn’t thought that was ever a question.   
  
She’s been afraid of Azula, of the power she yields unknowingly, ever since Mai fully realized her feelings. There’s a sick bit of guilty relief that she’s locked away, that one certain catastrophe can’t come to pass.   
  
Azula’s old words echo in her mind, and she laughs bitterly, the sound crackling around the empty cells. There is nothing in existence she fears more than Azula- of what she represents, of what she is.   
  
Yet here she is, walking down hundreds of stairs to reach her dungeon, a near-daily tradition.   
  
Azula’s cell has been steadily improved, ever since she stopped burning every object she was offered. It now more or less appears to be a palace room, half open and voyeuristic. Almost like a zoo exhibit, and Mai’s stomach turns.   
  
“My Mai,” Azula starts, lips curled up in a cruel smile, and it’s one of those days. “I was just thinking about you.”   
  
Mai sits, holding back the sigh. Yesterday had been such a good day too. “Good afternoon Azula.”  
  
“Wouldn’t know, they still won’t give me a window,” her eyes flare in the candlelight, flicker red with rage. “Why is that?”   
  
“You tried to escape through the fake window remember?”  
  
Azula hurls a goblet at the wall, the steel clatters but remains whole. Her knuckles crack, and she folds her hands over her knee, meeting her eyes. “Why do you still come?”   
  
Mai blinks, “We’re friends.”   
  
Azula laughs, loud and harsh. “My memory isn’t that altered. You  _betrayed_  me. And why isn’t Ty Lee with you? No, there’s something else.”  
  
Mai’s heartbeat quickens, and she scrambles up, legs weak. “I’ll return tomorrow.”   
  
The old Azula would have thrown fire at her for that- not aimed to really hit her, but close enough to make a lovely burn mark on the wall. This Azula, this girl who has been locked up for too long with too little company, smiles.   
  
“I know you will. And I’ll figure out why.”   
  
A shiver runs down her spine at the promise, and Mai practically runs up the stairs, needs to get out of this palace.


End file.
